


The Longest Night

by kitarin



Category: Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Diasomnia (Twisted-Wonderland), Found Family, M/M, Music, TWST Club Secret Santa Exchange (Twisted-Wonderland), first snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:27:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitarin/pseuds/kitarin
Summary: Winter solstice is quickly approaching and thus the Diasomnian tradition of celebrating The Longest Night. Each day in December, the number of candles and magical strings and orbs of light around the dorm has slowly increased – the only time of the year that they ever light up their usually comfortably dark habitat.It feels too soon and not soon enough all at once, but then, Malleus’s sense of time and space is always a little bit strange. Seasons turn again and again and again, but humans always make such a fuss over it.
Relationships: Malleus Draconia & Silver & Lilia Vanrouge & Sebek Zigvolt, Malleus Draconia/Lilia Vanrouge
Comments: 1
Kudos: 20





	The Longest Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CharaRen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CharaRen/gifts).



Winter solstice is quickly approaching and thus the Diasomnian tradition of celebrating The Longest Night. Each day in December, the number of candles and magical strings and orbs of light around the dorm has slowly increased – the only time of the year that they ever light up their usually comfortably dark habitat.

It feels too soon and not soon enough all at once, but then, Malleus’s sense of time and space is always a little bit strange. Seasons turn again and again and again, but humans always make such a fuss over it.

Lately, Lilia, Silver & Sebek always seem busy with classes and their respective club activities and despite being the dorm head, school culture often feels like a whirlwind to Malleus; he’s often lost in his own head.

Striking a balance between being a fae and being a student is never entirely easy and though he rarely voices the concern out loud, sometimes he questions their decision to enroll at Night Raven College. He firmly believes that the golden threads between the members of his found family are quite unbreakable, but lately they’ve been stretched out of shape by this experience called _school._

Malleus misses _something_ , but he isn’t certain what it is that he’s forgotten, and unless he divines the truth, he also isn’t keen on sharing.

Right now he stands out on his favorite balcony alone, watching the night sky, head tipped back to study the stars, but it must be too many hours or days in a row, because someone’s finally been sent to fetch him.

“Umm, excuse me, Dorm Head…?”

Turning in one smooth gesture, Malleus regards the first year student standing in the doorway, concern in his honey brown eyes. “Yes, Rennie?” he tilts his head a little in greeting, which everyone in his dorm knows is code for what would be a smile on anyone else.

“Lilia sent me to tell you that we’re starting the cookie baking in the kitchen and your presence has been requested.”

“Understood,” Malleus nods, turning to cast one more glance at the night sky. It smells as if the snow is not far off now, a crisp undercurrent on the winds. “I will be along shortly.”

“Uh, well...” Rennie adds a bit sheepishly, shuffling from one foot to the other. “Lilia insisted I act as your escort?”

This time, the corners of Malleus’ lips do lift in a smile, purely because Lilia knows him amusingly well. He’s absolutely too likely to become lost in thought again and arrive once everything is long finished, if left to his lonesome. “I see.”

Rennie hesitates, but then seems to muster, finally withdrawing something from behind his back, thrusting it out at Malleus quite suddenly with a bright little smile. “I also wanted to give this to you! I made it myself.”

Malleus accepts the object with much curiosity and it unfurls in his long and slender hands to reveal a long hand-knit scarf in a lovely pine green, soft and fuzzy. He stares at it for a long moment, then lifts his gaze to regard the little first year again, an appreciative glint in his bright eyes. “...thank you, Rennie.”

Flustering a little from the gratitude of their dorm head, Rennie nods. “You’ve been out here every night for over a week, Dorm Head. I – and other students – well, we… we worry?”

“Worry not,” Malleus answers, now swishing past Rennie and back inside. “The snow will be along soon enough.”

Lilia catches Malleus’ eyes from where he hangs upside-down off a chandelier in the center of the kitchen, giving out instructions to first and second years as they scurry about, and nods appreciatively at Malleus’ decision to show his face.

Sebek dedicates his first cookie in Malleus’ honor, shaped like a lightning bolt, only to break it in half while trying to decorate it and lament his terrible luck. Silver dozes off, wakened only by the oven timer startling him off of his chair and onto the floor. At least one tray of cookies ends up burnt beyond recognition.

There’s laughter and merriment, color and noise, but –

Malleus blinks and everyone’s retired to bed for the evening. The dorm’s lounge is empty at this late hour and his footsteps click audibly on the stone floor as he returns from the balcony yet again – it won’t be long now.

Is insomnia the same thing as loneliness?

Or is he simply restless?

It’s too quiet.

Opposite the staircases, there’s a black grand piano sitting silently in the center of the room, but Malleus thinks he can hear the tune that longs to be played. It’s an old, old hymn – ancient, really – and he’s not certain he recalls all of the words.

Sitting down on the bench and lifting the lid from the keys, Malleus reaches out with one hand, searching his memory and his heart. He doesn’t play this nearly as often as the violin, but it’s seldom wise to ignore old intuitions.

Does winter have a taste? Does longing have a key signature?

Slowly, his fingers touch the keys, one by one, letting each note ring out into the silence of this high-ceilinged and incredibly grand space of a room... but still the words in his mind can’t seem to take shape…

...until suddenly, and yet also unsurprisingly, a voice behind him picks up the tune – and yet, instead of singing the melody, sings the bass line instead.

The voice is rich and deep, filling him instantly with a familiar warmth, and Malleus dips his head, smiling to himself over the black and white keys when Lilia finally rests one hand on his shoulder.

_o/~ On longest night we gather here  
_ _to summon joy and bury fear  
_ _for night and day go hand in hand  
_ _and each alone could never stand ~/o_

At the end of the first verse, Lilia leans in, his fond and whispered words tickling Malleus’ ear. “Ah, I haven’t heard this one in too long...”

Malleus places his other hand on the keys and begins again, a second verse, and not more than halfway through, two more voices ring from the tops of the staircases, adding their harmonies over the top of Lilia’s bassline.

_o/~ through summer’s warmth and autumn’s glow  
_ _until the winter brings the snow  
_ _the ebb and flow of dark and light  
_ _is most profound on longest night ~/o_

Silver and Sebek weave their way across the room until they are standing at the opposite end of the piano, Sebek beaming at Malleus and even Silver with the softest little smile on his face. “I felt compelled by the music,” Sebek admits when the second verse ends.

“There’s still another verse,” Silver adds expectantly. “Can we...”

All four of them sing together this time, their voices blending with ease and familiarity, with colors that rise and fall as they wind around each other, weaving something as magical as a spell, time and place all set aside in favor of song – and in favor of each other.

He’s _missed_ this… and yet it’s been here all along.

_o/~ for some may praise the sun of spring  
_ _and miss the peace that darkness brings_  
_but share this night and you’ll ensure  
_ _that long a friendship will endure ~/o_

This is how Malleus remembers what he’s forgotten, and when he opens his eyes again, not knowing when he’d closed them, the entire hall of Diasomnia is filled with his fellow students. Each one holds their magical pen close to their heart, the crystal at the tip glowing with light.

He is the farthest from alone that he’s ever been.

“They worried you’d forgotten about tonight,” Lilia says gently, both hands squeezing his shoulders. “But I had faith that you would be here, right where you need to be, right when you need to be.”

“This _is_ the Longest Night, then...” Malleus muses to himself for a moment and then grins, and a ripple of whispers goes through the rest of the students in response.

“We feast before daybreak!” Sebek says excitedly, no longer able to contain his enthusiasm, which is quickly echoed by the growing murmurs of other curious first years. “I’ve heard the tales!”

Malleus rises from the piano, looking out over the room filled with the faces of his peers, and then at his Lilia, whose smile beams brighter than every other light. “Then let’s begin!”

At Malleus’ command, each student immediately rushes off to their pre-designated task, everyone moving simultaneously in a great flurry as the feast is transported from the kitchen to the banquet hall.

Malleus’ attention is drawn by another flurry he’s been awaiting, and he slips out onto the balcony once again to lift a hand in greeting.

Tiny crystallized flakes, each intricate and unique, drift down from the sky, pure and white as they catch against the black sleeve of his uniform.

“First snow on longest night – how incredibly lucky~!”

Turning at the words, Malleus gives Lilia a truly delighted little smile that’s mirrored right back at him. “I thought we might this year.”

Lilia’s cheeks are pink with the cold as he nods, holding out a hand to catch a few flakes as he crosses the three steps to Malleus’ side. “You do seem to have forgotten something, though.”

“Have I?” Malleus asks, eyebrows raising with curiosity, then glancing down as Lilia holds out his other hand.

Fisted in it is the beautiful green scarf that had been bestowed upon Malleus recently. Lilia tilts his head curiously, teasingly. “Or maybe you’ve remembered it already?”

“I do believe I have,” Malleus accepts the scarf, weaving it once around his neck, but it’s so long that Lilia reaches out to scoop up the other end, looping it around himself and stepping closer to Malleus’ warmth.

“This time is precious,” Lilia intones lightly in response. He knows Malleus’ mind well, but it’s always been better to let him meander his way to his own understandings than to try and impress anything upon him. “No matter how long we end up living, the days of here and now will not come again… so it’s good to see you living in the moment a little more.”

Malleus laughs, a soft little chuckle under his breath. Only Lilia could manage to understand him, lecture him, tease him and encourage him all in one statement. “Living in _this_ particular moment?” There’s snow in his hair and mischief in his green eyes as he leans down, smoothly lifting a hand, extending one long finger to gently tip Lilia’s face up towards his own.

“Yes,” Lilia assures him with a tickled gleam in his own eyes, and he pops up onto his tiptoes to meet Malleus’ kiss halfway, soft but certain. “This and many more.”

The sky begins to lighten, dusky rose and gray lavender with the coming dawn, even as the snow continues to fall in dizzying swirls around them.

Friends and feasting and a sunrise snowball fight await...

Another season turns over...

Malleus etches this celebration into his mind alongside what he’s forgotten, but remembered, with the help of his friends:

Whenever and wherever they are, from their kingdom to their dorm, from school days to times they have yet to experience… even when they’re busy, and even if they’re apart... taking the journey together with his friends has always mattered the most.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on twitter if you want to yell about twst or see cute plushie pics! @kitarinastala


End file.
